Strap connector



E. C. F-ITCH.

STRAP CONNECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. a. 19.21.

Patented May 30, 1922.

. 7T FIGE. 1 L

FIG"? F1135; /3 r W 7/ 7 2 FIGE. F k W 7 Z INVENTEIR EZQLZIIZ ment to the watch 1 curely, easily,

EZRA 0'. FITCH, OF MANCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO COMPANY, OF WALTHAM, JVIASSACHUSETTS,

A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

STRAP CONNECTOR.

Application filed February 8, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EZRA C. F rrcrr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, in the county of Essex and State of assachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Strap Connectors, of which the following is a specification.

The subject of the present invention is a connector intended and adapted for connecting wrist watches to the ends of a strap which is capable of being passed in the manner of a bracelet around a persons wrist for mounting the watch thereon. A strap so used is considered for the purpose of this specification as a bracelet; and any form of bracelet, whether it is specifically a strap or of other character, provided it is capable of attachby such a connector, is equivalent to a strap within the meaning of the appended claims. However, the protection which I claim is not necessarily limited to the use or combination of the connector With a watch and a strap, except as appears from the express terms of the claims, for it is also applicable to attaching a buckle to a strap, as explained in the following specification, and it may have other uses as well. Wherefore I claim the connector having the characteristics hereinafter defined as my in vention in all uses and combinations for which it may be available.

The main object of the invention is to provide a connector in the nature of a hinge pin which can be easily applied to and removed from the objects to be connected, has means in itself for insuring against accidental dismounting, and is inexpensive to manufacture. For the particular use of connecting a strap end to a watch, or a buckle, my object further includes that of enabling a closed loop'in the end of a strap to be made fast between lugs on the watch case or buckle seand rapidly. Referring to the drawing-in which the preferred form of the invention-is disclosed,

Figure l is a view of the watch and parts of a strap bracelet extended.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the same as seen,

from beneath Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view in detail and on an enlarged scale of the connector in its association with the watch case and the strap.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 30, 1922 Serial no. 443,327.

Figures 4 and 5 another.

Figure 6 is a diagram representing in an exaggerated way the coaction of the two parts of the connector 1n preventing dismemberinent. In this figure the lateral di- Like reference characters designate the same parts in all the figures. v

a represents a watch of any make, style, and design suitable to beworn upon the Wrist of the possessor, and o and 0 are two straps forming-parts of a bracelet, the strap 5 having a strap at the end which is intended to be attached to the watch is fashioned into aclosed.

loop or eye 6, and each loop or eye is placed.

close to the side of the watch case between two lugs f, which project from the case center g. F or the purpose here indicated there are two pairs of lugs 7 each of which pairs is at the opposite side of the watch case from the other. Except that lugs substantially equivalent to those here shown (orat least one pair of such lugs) are practically essential, the watch may otherwise have any design and be of any size which suits the taste of the possessor.

For connecting each strap end to the embracing lugs ter adapting it to enter the loop or eye of the strap, and of a length permitting it to pass between the lugs of one pair, and a locking pin 76 having a dlameter enough less than-the I to permit of its being easily insertedtherein, and a length greater than the space between WALTHAM WATCH are detail elevations of the, parts of the connector separated from one buckle d with which the end of f I provide a tube h of a diamethe two lugs of one pair, but preferably no greater than the distance to permit easy 105- is bent between the pin,

form pivots qualities here outlined.

its ends, preferably at or near the middle and on a curve wide enough to avoid sharp bending at any point; and the extent of bending is such that the middle part of the pin is offset from a straight line between its ends more than the difference between the diameter of the pin and the bore of the tube. In proportion to the length and diameter of the extent of bending indicated by Figure 5 is sufficient for my purposes,

When the tube is inserted between the lugs of the watch case and the pin is passed through the lugs and the intermediate tube so that its ends enter both lugs, such ends which connect the strap to the watch case and permit angular movement of the strap about the line of the pivots. Then that part of the pin which occupies the tube is deflected from its unstressed condition and, owing to its resiliency, it exerts pressure in one direction against one side of the tube at or near its ends and in the opposite direction against the opposite side of the tube at or near its middle. The pressure so exerted produces a frictional clutching effect which prevents accidental slipping of the pin from the tube; and the tube, being confined between the lugs, prevents either pivot end of the pin from leaving the hole which it occupies in the adjacent lug.

The clutching efiect last described is indicated in Figure 3, but is more fully illustrated in the diagrammatic Figure 6. Here the disproportionately enlarged diameters of the pin and tube show the divergence between the line of the pin and the line of the tube bore with the contact at the points 1 and 2 between the pin and inner walls of the tube atone side, and at 8 on the other side. To attain the desired effect, the pin in its normal unstressed condition should extend in a line so far different from the line of the tube bore that it is deflected from this normal shape and put under stress by its engagement with the inner walls of the tube. The pin therefore must have sufficient elasticity and resilience to be thus deflected within its elastic limit. It must also be stiff enough to be inserted by an endwise thrust through the lugs and tube against the resistance offered by this frictional contact, and enough strength resistant to shearing and bending to serve the purposes of a connector in the uses to which it is put. For the specific use here izlustrated and described hard metallic wire has the necessary Steel, brass, and gold (are all suitable metals or alloys of which wire for the purposes indicated may be made, and they are named to indicate in a general way what characteristics are necessary and sufficient. Drawn wire or rolled rods of various diameters may be used according to the servlce required in any particular case.

The invention is not limited to a straight tube and bent pin, for a bent or curved tube 72. and a straight pin as shown in Figures 7 and 8 may be used with equivalent effect; and a curved or bent pin may be com bined with a curved or bent tube, provided the divergence between the line of the pin and the line of the bore of the tube is great enough to cause the clutching effect already described. The curved form of tube may be preferable for some purposes to the. straight tube for connecting a strap to a watch case having a curved perimeter, as by its use the strap end may be conformed closely to the curvature of the case, when thestrap is of sufficiently flexible material.

Essentially the same connector is employed to attach the frame of the buckle d to the opposite end of the strap Z) from that which is connected to the watch. The buckle frame then is provided with apertured ends or ears d d which embrace the ends of a closed loop 6 in the adjacent strap end; and a tube essentially like the tube It or it" is placed in this loop and between the buckle frame ends, while a pin, essentially like the pin 70, or 70, respectively, is passed through the buckle frame ends and the tube embraced by them.

It will be readily apparent that the connector or connecting means here disclosed can be easily placed in or removed from the position of use, and is at the same time well secured against accidental disassociation of its members. Evidently also the connector is producible at low cost.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of a member having lugs spacedapart, with a second member having a loop or eye in its end adapted to enter between such lugs, a tube occupying said eye, and a pin passing through said tube and into the lugs and being of springy material and offset between its ends to an extent which causes it to be clutched by the ends and intermediate part of the tube.

2. The combination of two separable ele ments, one of which has lugs embracing the other, and such lugs and the element embraced thereby contain an alined passage, with a connector occupying such passage and extending therefrom at opposite ends into the lugs, and being so bent between its ends that it is distorted from its normal shape by, and engaged sides with, the walls of the passage in the embraced element.

3. The combination of two separableelements, one of which has parts embracing a part of the other and such parts contain an interior continuous passage, of a connecting pin enough smaller in diameter than said passage to be capable of insertion endwise into, and removal from, the passage; said frictionally on opposite v 1 different parts of the pin being of metal having such elasticity and resilience that it may be bent within its limit of elasticity to a distance greater than normal unstressed condition being formedin a line dissimilar to the line of the passage, whereby it is distorted when located in the passage and caused to exert frictional clutching pressure in opposite directions on passage.

4:. The combination with a member having spaced apart lugs with alined holes in them, of a tube substantially as long asthe space between said lugs, and a pin adapted to occupy the bore of said tube and to project at its ends therefrom into the holes of said lugs; the pin being enough smaller in diameter than the bore of the tube, and stiff enough, to be passed endwise through the lugs and tube by pressure applied to its end, and being; resilient enough to bend between its ends within the elastic limit, and the line of the pm when in its unstressed condition being enough different from the line of the said bore to cause application of a frictional clutching pressure between the end and intermediate parts of the pin and tube, at

w lugs and tube, said respectively opposite sides thereof, the pin is" inserted into the tube. 1

5. The combination with a strap having a loopin its end and a part having perforated lugs adapted to embrace such loop, of a tube adapted to occupy said loop and fit between said lugs with its bore insubstantial alinement with the ter, and a pin adapted to be passed endwise by thrust exerted upon one end through such when unstressed condition so far divergent as to the line in which it extends from the bore of said tube, that it-is deflected from its normal shape by the walls of the tube and is caused to exert clutching pressure oppositely against said walls.

6. A connector for the purposes hereinbefore set forthconsisting of a member having a bore and a pin adapted to be passed freely endwise and such bore being dissimilar in line to such an extent that the .pin, when contained in such bore, exerts resilient pressure against opposite walls thereof. a In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

being in its normal pin being resilient, and

through said bore, the pin' perforations in the lat- EZRA 'o. FITCH. 

